Health, human performance degrees train OBU students for in-demand careers
A growing number of research studies suggest that exercise is not only possible during cancer treatment, but it can also improve how well patients function physically and emotionally.
In fact, many cancer treatment teams are urging their patients to be as physically active as possible during their treatment.
The revamped Oklahoma Baptist University health and human performance program allows students to prepare for careers that may help these patients. OBU not only teaches the students the basics of health and fitness but also allows them to work with cancer patients through OBU’s cancer rehab program based at the Shawnee campus.
“Being a smaller school, most people wouldn’t necessarily expect that we have something like this,” said Dr. Tom Darling, OBU’s health and human performance division chair and cancer rehab director.
The health and human performance degree offerings include a variety of focus areas with clinical and non-clinical options including an apprenticeship at the cancer rehab program, “OBU CARES” (Cancer Awareness and Rehabilitative Exercises).
“Major and minor studies in exercise and sport sciences are popular and offered in several universities and colleges,” Darling said. “The OBU Cancer Program and undergraduate research apprenticeship provide the competitive edge. While degree programs are abundant, undergraduate research opportunities are less common particularly in small, teaching-focused institutions. Furthermore, there are only a few cancerexercise programs in the country and those are primarily found in research or medical universities.”
Cancer rehabilitation center
Under Darling’s direction, OBU opened its cancer rehabilitation center to the OBU community this fall and will open it to the public in 2018. This offers students a unique opportunity to gain clinical experience, while learning from Darling and working with cancer patients. Next year, students will have the option of pursuing a cancer rehab minor.
“Students work directly with cancer program participants throughout each phase of the program, including orientation sessions, fitness testing, exercise monitoring and data collection,” Darling said.
Students also have the chance to present at a scientific conference annually. The team lead, who has additional responsibilities and duties, is the first author on the scientific poster and is the primary presenter. Team members attend weekly meetings, complete laboratory activities, and contribute to additional tasks, mimicking the process of professional researchers.
Darling has more than 20 years of combined experience in disease prevention, disease control, health promotion and human performance enhancement. His research has focused on establishing exercise, nutrition and lifestyle interventions as part of routine cancer prevention and care, decreasing cancer symptom severity and treatment side effects, and enhancing quality of life for cancer patients, survivors and caregivers.
“Exercise oncology is a growing field but significantly behind cardiac rehab,” Darling said. “The vision and mission is to continue to develop cancer rehab as an integral component of cancer prevention, care and survivorship.”
While there is significant focus and funding for developing a cure, improving medicine effectiveness and enhancing treatment techniques, there is much less focus on the cancer patient and caregiver.
“The OBU CARES program is designed to provide health education, fitness testing and exercise programming for cancer patients, survivors and caregivers. The objective is to enhance functional capacity and healthrelated quality of life,” Darling added.
Darling is particularly excited about the OBU CARES program because of its direct impact on patients and those supporting them. He is also excited about expanding the program beyond the OBU community into the city of Shawnee and surrounding communities.
The relaunch
The new opportunities are the result of a relaunch of a long-standing program at OBU. When the division of kinesiology and leisure studies at OBU relaunched this fall as the division of health and human performance, it also introduced innovative programs that will give students a competitive edge in careers such as personal training, coaching, sports and recreation, teacher education and sports ministry. It will also give them a leg up in their graduate school and career pursuits.
“Division and programming changes were specifically designed to provide advanced education, training and experience for our students,” Darling said.
The program restructuring allows students to choose between a health track leading to clinical careers and a performance track leading to non-clinical careers. The advanced curriculum will add new clinical and lab courses for the health track providing key education required for careers in a clinical setting. A new physiology laboratory houses exercise equipment and provides crucial learning experiences students need for success in their future careers.
The health track will prepare students for graduate school and clinical careers in areas such as clinical exercise physiology, physical and occupational therapy, physician assistant and cancer research, among others. Students will use the new exercise physiology lab for advanced testing, new clinical labs, the OBU Cancer Rehabilitation Program and the Cancer Research Program.
There is also a track that is designed for students pursuing non-clinical careers in areas such as personal training/strength and conditioning, coaching, sports and recreation, teacher education and sports ministry. Current leisure studies programs including sports and recreation, camp administration and sports ministry also fall under this track.
“We hope to build on the division’s history of success and soon become the leading Christian exercise science program in the region,” Darling said.
For more information, visit www.okbu.edu.
This article is sponsored by OBU.